I would recommend starting with the double tongue. Why? Because it's a sound process that is very normal even when you are not a trumpet player. That is, even a three year old child playing with a train set can go "chug-a, chug-a, chug-a,..." to imitate the sound of a train. TTK is not a sound most people make unless they are learning triple-tonguing.

I believe in taking human processes and attaching them to trumpet playing whenever possible. Breathing, tonguing, vibrato... all things we do naturally.

One thing that Arnold Jacobs discussed with me when we would have our talks about pedagogy was that double tonguing was best taught at a fast speed but in very small chunks. He liked to start students of with a quick tkt... tkt... tkt... in a scale pattern ( ccc... ddd... eee... ). Each subsequent lesson he would add another small chunk until they had the idea.

The other admonition I would make is to be sure to keep the tip of the tongue forward throughout as in the word "tip" or "took". Try "Took'er 2".

I might also add that single tonguing should be learned and mastered before double or triple tonguing. Too many of us get sloppy and rely on double tonguing, when we should be able to single tongue it cleaner.

I don't really think it matters-- actually well I would recommend double tounging because you just learn tu ku and you need the "ku"for triple tounging (tu tu ku) This is the proper way, people. Some players that I've talked to say it's ta da ka. It's not. The syllable da won't even come out clear on a trumpet.

My take is that it doesn't matter, just start early. My students get started after about a month of lessons. By the time their tone turns nice, the articulation is there too - and they smoke their peers that didn't start early!